The man who swung into television sets in the 1960s as Tarzan has died.
Ron Ely was 86 years old.
Ely’s daughter confirmed that her father died on Sept. 29 at his home in Los Alamos, California, The Associated Press reported.
She did not say how he died, but posted a tribute to her father on Instagram, calling him “a hero.”
Ely was born in Hereford, Texas, but grew up in Amarillo. That’s where he met his high school sweetheart. The pair eventually married in 1959 but divorced two years later.
According to IMDB, his first acting role was in 1958′s “South Pacific,” which starred Mitzi Gaynor who also recently passed away. Ely also appeared on a handful of television series including “Father Knows Best” and “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis” but his big break was in “Tarzan” where he played the title character in 57 episodes from 1966 to 1968.
The AP reported Ely didn’t speak like other Tarzan actors, instead portrayed him as a man who had gotten tired of civilization and returned to the jungle in Africa where he was raised.
He said he did his own stunts working with the animals such as tigers and chimpanzees.
“They first tried to cast a former American football player called Mike Henry but he didn’t like chimpanzees and from the moment he got on set, things went south in a hurry,” Ely said in 2013, according to the AP.
“I met with them on a Monday and when they offered me the role I thought: ‘No way do I want to step into that bear trap. You do Tarzan and you are stamped for life’,” Ely said. “Was I ever right! But my agent convinced me it was a quality show and was going to work. So, on the Friday I was on a plane to Brazil to shoot the first episode.”
The actor turned into a host at times and whose duties included hosting the Miss America pageant, where he met Miss Florida and future wife, Valerie Lundeen, whom he married in 1984, Entertainment Weekly reported.
They had three children together and he took a break from acting to raise his family.
“Late in life I had a young family. I decided to stop acting and work at home, as an author, that way I could be with the kids all through school and be able to attend their sports games and things,” Ely said in 2013, according to the AP.
Ely wrote a pair of detective novels “Night Shadows” and “East Beach,” in the 1990s. He had one more role in “Expecting Amish” in 2014, IMDB listed.
But the actor’s life with his family ended in 2019 when his wife was stabbed to death in their home by the couple’s son Cameron, who was shot and killed by police.
The shooting was declared justified, a determination that Ely, who was at home at the time of his wife’s death, challenged.
“If he didn’t have a gun or he didn’t have a weapon, what was the basis of shooting him?” Ely’s attorney said in 2020. “They may have very well thought he was involved in some other activity involving the mom. But that’s not a basis to shoot and kill him. You have to have a lawful basis to do that.”
Ely leaves behind his two daughters, Kirsten and Kaitland, the AP reported.
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